. >> thank you for the optimistic note. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> in his weekly address, president obama speaks about sequestration and tax policy. senator lisa murkowski delivers the republican address. she delivers her policy for an energy plan in the u.s. >> hi, everybody. over the last few years democrats and republicans have cut our deficit by more than $2.50 trillion to a mix of spending cuts and hired tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. that is more than halfway toward the four trillion dollars that you elected officials say we need to stabilize our debt. i believe we can finish the job the same but we started it with a balanced mix of more spending cuts and tax reform. the overwhelming majority of the american people agree. my preference and the preference of many members of congress is to do that and a balanced and comprehensive web making sensible changes to entitlement programs and reforming the tax code. both